10 Things I Learned: Godzilla
By February 24, 2012
Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon, the original, 1954 Japanese version is presented here, along with Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the 1956 “Americanized” version.
| Professor Kyohei Yamane | Takashi Shimura |
| Hideto Ogata | Akira Takarada |
| Emiko Yamane | Momoko Kochi |
| Dr. Daisuke Serizawa | Akihiko Hirata |
| Professor Tanabe | Fuyuki Murakami |
| Hagiwara | Sachio Sakai |
| Nankai Shipping Company manager | Toranosuke Ogawa |
| Masaji | Ren Yamamoto |
| Shinkichi | Toshiaki Suzuki |
| Chairman of the Diet committee | Ken Hayashi |
| Village chief | Keiji Sakakida |
| Senator Oyama | Seijiro Onda |
| Senator Ozawa | Kin Sugai |
| Old fisherman | Kokuten Kodo |
| Chief of Emergency Headquarters | Takeo Oikawa |
| Shinkichi's mother | Tsuruko Mano |
| Radio operator | Ren Imaizumi |
| Godzilla | Haruo Nakajima |
| Katsumi Tezuka |
| Director | Ishiro Honda |
| Producer | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Original story | Shigeru Kayama |
| Screenplay | Takeo Murata and Ishiro Honda |
| Music | Akira Ifukube |
| Director of photography | Masao Tamai |
| Lighting | Choshiro Ishii |
| Chief art director | Takeo Kita |
| Art director | Satoshi Chuko |
| Editing | Taichi Taira |
| Special effects director | Eiji Tsuburaya |
| Special effects art director | Akira Watanabe |
| Special effects lighting | Kuichiro Kishida |
| Monster builder | Teizo Toshimitsu |
| Sound recording | Hisashi Shimonaga |
| Sound and musical effects | Ichiro Minawa |
| Production manager | Teruo Maki |
| Assistant director | Koji Kajita |
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